Tracy to see biggest surge in home construction in years

More businesses coming to town, but few homes on the market

Tracy real estate agent Susan Goulding, with Crown Key Realty, said there's a fine balance between building too many homes and having no jobs -- and not having enough homes to meet the demand for those who want to live and work in Tracy.

Goulding said Tracy is now in the latter position.

Goulding said in the past 15 days, 28 homes were listed for sale, and 49 have sold.

The average time for a home to be sold is 21 days.

Goulding said there is a lot of demand, from first-time home buyers to investors.

But she believes the demand will be even greater once companies such as Amazon open this fall in Tracy.

The low inventory started with the passing of a slow growth measure in the early 2000s that put a maximum cap of 750 homes to be built each year.

As a result, the city of Tracy said in the past few years, only 40 homes were built each year.

City leaders said the economy is now bouncing back.

City officials said more companies are looking to set up shop in town -- and to help meet the demands of people looking to buy, the city council has already approved two multimillion-dollar projects that, in time, would provide an additional 7,750 homes.

Andrew Malik, Tracy's director of Development Services, said the city is prepared for the growth in population, and added that this is an exciting time.

Tracy is poised to be one of the fastest-growing cities in the Central Valley, Malik said.